The invention relates to a composition that when placed inside a ceramic receptacle within a vented-gas fireplace, produces crackling and popping sounds and a noticeable scent indistinguishable from the crackling and popping sounds and scents of a natural wood log burning in a conventional fireplace.
Most homes are built with a fireplace either to provide warmth or to provide visual, audible, or sensory enjoyment. Natural wood, burning in these fireplaces fulfills all of these needs. Unfortunately, in our current modern world, wood has a number of increasingly evident drawbacks. These are: the overall limited supply of wood and the required destruction of trees in order to supply this wood; the effort required to handle the wood, from chopping, transportation, stacking, placing in the fire, and clean up of residual ashes; and the pollution created from burning wood. These problems have led to the use of alternative methods of creating fire in a fireplace.
The two primary available alternatives to wood fires are: 1) use of an artificial log (comprised of one or more flammable materials, typically cellulosic materials, and a wax binder blended in the shape of natural log) in a conventional fireplace, such as a Duraflame(copyright) log or other commercially available similar product or 2) use of vented-gas fireplaces with ceramic logs, burning natural gas. Both alternatives have suffered from xe2x80x9crealismxe2x80x9d drawbacks. Over the years improvements have been made in the xe2x80x9crealismxe2x80x9d of the flame, xe2x80x9crealismxe2x80x9d of the ceramic logs, and xe2x80x9crealismxe2x80x9d of the sound and scent of artificial logs.
The prior art has dealt with producing an audible sound in an artificial log. These logs, however, cannot be used in a vented-gas fireplace. U.S. Pat. No. 5,868,804, issued Feb. 9, 1999 to Williams et.al., is directed to an artificial log having an additive consisting of: 1) mustard, flax, cumin, or sesame seed or a combination thereof 2) hollow synthetic spheres, or 3) a combination of the seed component and the hollow synthetic spheres in order to provide an audible crackling sound during the burning of the log. U.S. Pat. No. 6,017,373, issued Jan. 25, 2000 to Frisch, is directed to an artificial log incorporating coriander seed along with other naturally occurring geologic material of volcanic origin. A typical composition in Frisch contains 4-6% by weight coriander seed to improve the audible crackling sound of an artificial log.
Prior art compositions have been directed at improving the xe2x80x9crealismxe2x80x9d of burnable artificial logs. Little has been done in order to provide a product that produces realistic sounds and scents for a vented-gas fireplace.
Therefore, there is the need for a composition that produces the realistic sounds and scents of a vented-gas fireplace.
The foregoing reflects the state of the art of which the inventors are aware, and is tendered with a view toward discharging the inventors"" acknowledged duty of candor, which may be pertinent to the patentability of the present invention. It is respectfully stipulated, however, that the foregoing discussion does not teach or render obvious, singly or when considered in combination, the inventor""s claimed invention.
The instant invention combines a crackling additive such as seeds, with ceramic spheres and liquid ingredients, to produce a pourable composition capable of being placed in a vented-gas fire place and further capable, when heated to an effective temperature, of producing realistic sounds and scents of a natural wood fire. The composition has to be heated, but not burned in order to perform. Approximately one tablespoon of the composition produces popping sounds of a duration ranging between 30-120 minutes, depending on the heat generated from the vented-gas fireplace. For optimal performance, the composition should be placed in a ceramic receptacle that allows the composition to be piled to a height of between xc2xdxe2x80x3 and 1xe2x80x3. When combined with scented oils, and heated, the composition produces scents similar to those of a natural burning fire.
The following objects and advantages will be revealed from the detailed disclosure of the invention:
It is an object of the invention to provide a composition for use in a vented-gas fireplace that produces the realistic sounds and scents of a wood fire.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a pourable composition that can be scooped from a container in tablespoon quantities, and used as needed.
Further objects and advantages of the invention will be brought out in the following portions of the specification, wherein the detailed description is for the purpose of fully disclosing preferred embodiments of the invention, without placing limitations thereon.